Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Millwood a Ranger

We all know that The Rangers always have great hitting (its hard not to in the Arlington band box) and the thing that has kept them back in recent terms has been pitching.

Kevin Millwood was arguably the most desirable of this years free agent pitchers after a year in Cleveland which may have only seen him win 9 games but he posted an AL best ERA of 2.86 so you'd think this would be a great pick up for Texas, wouldn't you?

While I do rate Millwood as a pitcher, I am not convinced he has the right mental make up to be the ace that Texas need or maybe think they're getting. His best years in Atlanta were when the holy trinity of Smoltz, Glavine and Maddux were still there and as The Braves gave him more responsibility, their returns diminished. The same story in Philadelphia, they brought him in to be the ace that would see The Phils back into the postseason and he simply wasn't.

Last year Cleveland brought Millwood in after he got little attention in the free agent market and they simply expected him to be a middle rotation guy behind incumbents Sabathia and Westbrook and guess what, he had a great year.

Kevin Millwood is a good pitcher when expectations are low and responsibility is limited but while Texas might feel they are getting a guy who can get them over the hump and win the West, I do fear they might have picked up another Chan Ho Park.

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